There's a lot to think about with respect to yesterday's assassination of two New York City cops Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu. First, lets take time out to reflect, pray, offer condolences and not be dismissive about the loss of life. Keep our humanity in tact even as we are angry, upset and disturbed about the wrong doings that routinely impact our community. Dancing on the graves of those deceased is never a good thing..
So with that in mind, what do we know? The narrative we've been given via corporate news outlets is the following; 28-year-old Ismaaiyl Brinsley shot his girlfriend in Baltimore then made his way up to New York, City posted on his instagram account that he intended to 'put wings on pigs' in revenge for the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown... He then saw two officers in a patrol car in Brooklyn near a housing project shot them to death... Brinsley then jetted to a nearby subway where he killed himself..
Before many of heard the details around this case, what was quickly made known to us was the unsettling remarks expressed by Patrick Lynch heads up the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association (PBA). He blamed Mayor Bill De Blasio for the deaths of those two officers. He basically said the Mayor had blood on his hands. His exact quote was:
“There’s blood on many hands tonight. Those that incited violence on the streets under the guise of protest that tried to tear down what NYPD officers did every day. We tried to warn it must not go on, it cannot be tolerated.."
Adding to Lynch's public rant was former Governor George Pataki who tweeted that Attorney General Eric Holder was to blame for the death of these two officers for having divisive anti-police rhetoric..
Never one to shy from controversy and inflammatory rhetoric NY Congressman and former staunch supporter for the IRA, Peter King who said it's time for elected officials to stand behind police and stop demeaning them and grand juries.
Similar assertions came from other elected officials like NY sate Senator Greg Ball who also blamed the mayor and demanded that everyone fall in line behind the police.
As I heard and read these remarks, I kept thinking to myself, how this is a few days before Christmas, the body of these two officers aren't even cold and already we have folks who should be responsible running to the bank with this incident.
With each over the top remark, it was apparent that what were seeing were politicians and leaders who were not grieving. These were not men who were sorry about officers being killed. These were men who are opportunists who seemed to be filled with hate and who fully intended to exploit these deaths to the fullest in the most 'politically' egregious ways along with cheer leading, biased and complicit media outlets.
We saw that during the Mayor's press conference when police officers who were in attendance turned their backs to the mayor in a show of disgust as he made his way to the podium.
We saw that with media outlets who in a desperate attempt to garner favor with police and help carry out their agenda of shifting focus from #BlackLivesMatter to #BlueLivesMatter, do full on documentary style reports about the history of cops being assassinated.
I say desperate because these assassination attempts are not frequent which meant that these local outlets had to dip back damn near 40 years and cite cases and incidents during the hey day of the Black Liberation Army and the Black Power movements in the 1970s.
Afterwards they had to go back 25 years to 1988 and cite the case of rookie cop Edward Byrne being killed at the orders of jailed drug king pin Howard "Pappy" Mason
Of course those local media outlets stayed clear of Larry Davis who shot 6 police officers in 1986 when they raided his house and went on the run for 17 days. He became a folk hero for alluding the police especially after it was noted the detectives involved in that case were accused of being corrupt and involved in drug dealing.
The reports brought up the case of rogue police officer Christopher Dorner who killed several cops in LA two years ago, but avoided looking at the numerous shootouts and ambushes of law enforcement in recent years by white supremacist and sympathizers.
There's been no mention of Richard Poplawski who ambushed and killed 3 Pittsburgh, Pa police officers in 2009. He was taken into custody alive.
There was no mention of the 2010 12 minute shoot out on the 580 freeway here in Oakland between Far Right wing extremist and two time felon Byron Williams and CHP (California Highway Patrol) . Officers fired more than 200 rounds. Williams was taken into custody alive.
There was no mention of white supremacist in April of 2013 ambushing and killing a Colorado state prison chief Tom Clements and later Texas District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife Cynthia
There was no mention of police hating survivalist Eric Frien who in September of this year (2014) ambushed and killed a Pennsylvania state trooper. More than 1000 police officers spent 48 days tracking down Frien who was taken a live.
The was no mention of the white supremacist couple, Jerad Miller and his wife Amanda who ambushed two officers in Las Vegas. They believed police were the oppressor. This happened in June of this year (2014) after they visited Clive Bundy Ranch where militia groups had a stand off with law enforcement. After the cops were ambushed a swastika and note that read 'Don't Tread on Me' was left behind on top of one of the slain officers. The couple killed themselves.
Why mention these cases alongside the killing of these two NYPD officers? It's so folks can compare and contrast the coverage and rhetoric put forth by both media and law enforcement and the steps they take moving forward.
Thus far the media outlets, organizations and far-right movements that inspired these aforementioned egregious killings were not soundly condemned the way we see folks trying to pile on the current movements fighting for an end to police terror.
Right now you hear all this talk about the movements to end police brutality is the reason why these two officers were killed. If you listen to folks like Lynch or Peter king, anyone speaking about ways to stay safe from the police or demanding justice for their wrong doing is contributing to a divisive, anti-police climate.
The rhetoric from folks like Lynch is such that the thousands who took to the streets, did direct action to bring about a change in policies and demanded justice for unarmed citizens killed by police, is such that we are supposed to believe everyone out there is a dangerous killer who needs to be surveilled, detained and their respective organizations dismantled.
Let's be clear, the killing of these officers is tragic and folks should take time out to mourn, reflect and not be callous to lose of life.. At the same time their deaths do not change anything.. Not one damn thing is changed. Rogue officers who did horrible things to members of the community are not off the hook because these two cops were killed.
While we mourn the killing of these two cops and show concern for his girlfriend who he also shot, we should keep in mind, that the family of 12 year old Tamir Rice in Cleveland are still grieving. Police have not apologized or acknowledged that they had amongst their ranks someone who was deemed unfit and unstable for the job. If anything the same heads of police unions that are blaming anti-police rhetoric for the slaying of these two officers have backed the Cleveland police around the killing of Rice..
We see similar unbridled support around the police killing of 7 year old Ayanna Stanley Jones in Detroit.
We see the full on support of police brass in the slaying of 13 year old Andy Lopez in Santa Rosa.
We are still fighting for justice for John Crawford in Ohio, Jonathan Farell in North Carolina, Alex Nieto in San Francisco, Yanira Serrano-Garcia in Halfmoon Bay, Victor White III of New Iberia, La, Chavis Carter of Arkansas, Osman Hernandez in Salinas, Alan Bluford in Oakland, Rumain Brisbon in Arizona and Dontre Hamilton of Milawauke, Samantha Ramsey of Kentucky..
Within New York City we do not see the police owning up to the egregious killings of folks like Rhamarly Graham in the Bronx, Akai Gurley who was recently gunned down in Brooklyn or the slayings of Kenneth Chamberlain Sr and DJ Danroy Henry both in Westchester County right outside New York. In the case of Pace University student, Henry, the police have admitted lying and yet we have no indictments or convictions..
In the case of 70 year old Chamberlain Sr, the officer who shot and killed him was not indicted in spite of his now known history of racial hostility toward Black folks. .
The slaying of these two NYPD officers, Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu change nothing about the harsh realities faced by the families whose loved ones were gunned down by police, lied upon by police, humiliated by police who remain unapologetic.
Trying to draw some sort of connection to man who shot his girlfriend and then killed police to the plight of these innocent families suffering from police terrorism underscores my initial assertion about folks like Pat Lynch, Peter King, George Patakai and any other two bit apologist politician for police terror being racist, opportunistic with little regard to the officers slain..
Bottom line is we are fighting for justice and fighting to end police terrorism.. period.. For folks like Lynch and those who think like him, they are fighting to maintain unchallenged power and dominance over large segments of the population.
At this junction in time folks must note what Kali Akuno of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement noted, that in many circles the tide has shifted with the killing of these two cops. The state has the upper hand if the battle ground is the court of public opinion in the arenas where corporate media defines the landscape.
There is and will be a continued all out push to disparage and demonize everything from 'Hands Up Don't Shoot' to 'I Can't Breath' to #BlacklivesMatter. The game plan at hand is to make police accountability movement toxic in the minds of average Americans and to make it something that any all politicians should politically fear...
And yet with all that being the case, the realities many of us have experienced are still the same. The scars both physical and psychological that bear as a result of police abuse are still present.. The terror that many feel around police has not disappeared.. Those conditions must change and will change..
The end game here is not two dead cops or 20 dead cops. The end game here was not one jailed cop or 20 jailed cops. The end goal here is justice for those aggrieved and an end to the horrors many of us face daily in our community at the hands of out of control police who act with impunity and are funded by our tax dollars.
#staywoke and don't get caught up in the spectacle.
- S/O to
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